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West Links: Maybin, Balfour, Dodgers

As Dave Cameron of FanGraphs notes (on Twitter), only two teams have yet to score 400 runs this year: the Mariners and the Giants. Although the two west coast clubs share concerns about their offense, San Francisco is in first place while Seattle is in last. Here's the lasted from the two west divisions...

• ESPN's Jerry Crasnick wrote about Cameron Maybin, who is breaking out with the Padres after being acquired this past offseason. "This is the first time in two or three seasons where I've felt comfortable," said Maybin, who is hitting .278/.332/.405 overall but .328/.378/.508 away from Petco Park. "I'm not worried about the consequences of going out there and trying to get a hit every night. Even if I have a bad week or a bad month, I feel like these guys are still with me."
• Grant Balfour signed with the Athletics over the winter because he felt like they would be a contender, writes Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle. "I definitely signed here for that reason," said Balfour. "Looking at this team, I thought we'd be better in the standings than we are, and now we're in a tough spot. But we can't worry about it; we'll just take each day as it comes and see what happens at the end of it all."
• Richard Sandomir of The New York Times explains how the terms of MLB's $150MM loan to the Dodgers eases the club's fear of being seized by the league. "The worst that can happen — in the narrow case of default — is they can stop funding," said Bruce Bennett, one of the team's lawyers. "It is not a secured loan, so baseball can't foreclose on anything." Sandomir also notes that Bennett has his doubts about MLB's ability to finance the loan.

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